UK-Libya deal on judicial cooperation

Britain said yesterday it had signed a deal on judicial cooperation with Libya, but it would not immediately lead to convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel-Basset al-Megrahi being sent home to Libya to finish his sentence.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's office denied that Mr Megrahi, serving life in Scotland for murdering 270 people with the bomb that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, would be going home. "Wrong. Not true," Mr Blair's spokesman told reporters at the G8 summit in Germany.

Scottish Premier Alex Salmond said a memorandum was signed on May 29, and he told the Scottish Executive yesterday it covered judicial cooperation on matters of law, extradition and prisoner transfer.

He said Mr Megrahi's case was under review by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission which might result in it going back to appeal, but he insisted that the memorandum of understanding had no bearing on that process.